The idea of the "global city," which focuses on globalisation's impact on the social, financial, and political reality of cities in advanced economies, has become widely influential in the decades since its introduction-and yet the major issues in the "global city debate" remain unresolved. This book provides a systematic overview of the debate and competing theoretical notions, as well as an argument for the need to test the framework's empirical validity before the unresolved questions can be fruitfully addressed. By testing data from the Netherlands in the 1990s and 2000s, the author demonstrates the value of rigorous empirical scrutiny while offering fresh insights for the global city debate as a whole.

Political and urban sociologist Jeroen van der Waal is Associate Professor of Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He primarily investigates the impact of globalisation on inequality, value orientations and voting behaviour in the west. For details, see: www.jeroenvanderwaal.com

Acknowledgements1. Introduction1.1 Reconsidering the global city debate1.2 Scrutinizing the global city debate: major issues1.2.1 The changing economic base of cities1.2.2 Advanced producer services and labour demand1.2.3 The new international division of labour and immigration1.3 Scrutinizing the global city debate: blind spot1.4 Research questions1.5 Research framework2. The changing economic base of cities2.1 Introduction2.2 Three scenarios on employment growth in the advanced producer services2.2.1 The two clustering arguments in the global city theoretical framework2.2.2 The clustering argument in the global city debate2.3 Assessing employment growth in the advanced producer services2.4 What drives deindustrialization and a growth in services? 2.5 Conclusions3. Advanced producer services and labour demand3.1 Introduction3.2 Polarization, professionalization and mismatch3.2.1 The polarization thesis3.2.2 The professionalization thesis3.2.3 Polarization and professionalization in Dutch cities3.3 Assessing the impact of advanced producer services on labour demand3.4 A consumerist alternative: cultural amenities and demand for low-skilled labour3.5 Disentangling a productivist and consumerist explanation for unemployment among less-educated urbanites3.6 Conclusions4. Foreign direct investment and immigration4.1 Introduction4.2 Immigration in the global city theoretical framework4.3 Assessing the push and pull factors of the new immigration4.3.1 Assessing Dutch FDI as a push factor for immigration4.3.2 Assessing the growth of advanced producer services as a pull factor for immigration4.4 Conclusions5. Immigration and unemployment5.1 Introduction5.2 The substitution thesis5.2.1 The substitution thesis: theory and evidence5.2.2 The substitution thesis and the urban economy5.3 Assessing the substitution thesis on unemployment5.4 Conclusions6. Conclusions and discussion6.1 Introduction6.2 After the unravelling: theoretical and empirical implications6.2.1 The changing economic base of cities6.2.2 Advanced producer services and labour demand6.2.3 The new international division of labour and immigration6.2.4 The impact of immigration on urban labour markets6.3 The new conceptual architecture reconsidered6.4 Globalization or neo-liberalization? On science versus politicsEpilogue: The current financial crisis and its aftermathAppendix A: Polarization and professionalization studiesAppendix B: Data & operationalizationVariables introduced in Chapter 2Variables introduced in Chapter 3Variables introduced in Chapter 4Variables introduced in Chapter 5Appendix C: The employment shares in manufacturing for each metropolitan area 1995-2007Appendix D: Robustness checksRobustness checks on the findings in Table 3.1Robustness checks on the findings in Table 3.3Robustness checks on the findings in Table 5.1Notes